Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

1)     Amenadiel

The Archangel almost did an about-face to walk right back out of the room.

“Really?” he asked in dry exasperation. “In the middle of your club?”

“Hey we’re closed,” Lucifer pointed out with a wide grin and entirely no clothes.

“You’re making a habit of this Menny. I think you actually just want to catch a glimpse of this ass,” Tony smirked at him with absolutely zero shame about the fact that he was completely naked as well.

Amenadiel carefully kept his gaze above them both.

“I assure you that I have no such desire,” he told them blandly, ignoring Tony’s soft huff of laughter.

“What brings you by, dear brother?” Lucifer asked casually as Tony draped himself over the demon, not moving an inch out of his lap.

Amenadiel honestly wasn’t sure if he’d walked in at the end or beginning this time. Those two could look perfectly put together after spending time in a closet together.

“Would you put on some clothes?” he asked in annoyance.

“No,” the pair answered simultaneously.

“Chop chop,” Tony added. “I have a meeting this afternoon and Pepper will skin me if I’m late. I’m not leaving without having some fun first though.”

Ah, so he’d walked in just before then. Not a good thing. If Tony got impatient enough, he wasn’t going to wait for Amenadiel to leave.

The Archangel let out an irritated sigh.

“Are you sure about not telling R-” he changed the name at Lucifer’s abrupt and venomous glare while Tony shifted to look back at him. “Crowley. Shouldn’t he know?”

Lucifer rolled his eyes which never failed to irritate Amenadiel.

“Know what? That his sisters and brother tried to kill him? That the other brother hasn’t looked his way once in millennia? Or that he was never meant to be a demon?” He asked scathingly, a quick demonic miracle ensuring that no one could hear him.

Amenadiel shifted uncomfortably and Lucifer sighed.

“He’s happy right now, Amenadiel. He’s happy with his angel and friends. I don’t want to distress him with something he doesn’t even remember.”

The Archangel looked away but he had to admit that Lucifer was right. While Raph- Crowley would hate that they were keeping this from him, it would shatter the peace he’d found with Aziraphale.

That did bring up his other question though.

“And you’re fine with him dating this Principality?”

Lucifer groaned and dropped his head back. “Oh for fuck’s sakes. You lot are not going to pull the overprotective sibling thing now.” He lifted his head and raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t have a leg to stand on, brother. Aziraphale was there for six millennia. We weren’t.”

Well, there wasn’t much he could say to that.

2) Trixie

When the ear-splitting “Uncle Lucifer!” echoed through the club, Tony fell off the demon in his panic to scramble for his clothes.

Lucifer was a lot calmer but Tony did recognise the panic there too as he snapped his fingers and suddenly they were dressed.

Tony threw himself down onto the couch as Lucifer sat upright next to him just before Trixie burst through the door.

“Uncle Tony!” she shouted in delight at seeing him there too.

Tony gave her a grin, trying not to think about how close the kid had been to catching them in a compromising position.

Chloe came into view behind her and gave them both an apologetic look. Normally she called out ahead to give them time to get dressed if they were… busy. But it seemed that this time Trixie was a little too excited and had sprinted far ahead of her mother to find them in the back room.

Lucifer let out a quiet “oomph” as the child launched herself at him, knocking the breath out of him.

“Spawn,” Lucifer greeted her with a weird, awkward pat on the head.

Tony snickered off to the side. Lucifer was so adorably awkward with kids.

Then Trixie launched herself off of Lucifer to latch onto Tony who lost his balance and sent them both to the floor.

“Hey Trix,” he greeted on a wheeze.

Trixie got her bear hug in before jumping to her feet and looking around. “Is Uncle Crowley here too?” she asked hopefully.

The demon had rapidly become a favourite of all the kids and Trixie especially loved him. Crowley was honestly amazing with kids and he was becoming everyone’s favourite babysitter.

“Not today munchkin,” Tony told her, grinning when she pouted at the news. “What? We not good enough for you now?” He gave her an exaggeratedly sad face and she gasped.

“No! I still love you Uncle Tony!” she declared, leaping on him again in a hug.

He chuckled and started tickling her, grinning over at Lucifer and Chloe as she shrieked with laughter.

Chloe said something about being back later while Lucifer complained about being used as free babysitting again.

Tony didn’t really mind. They really were getting interrupted a lot lately though. That used to be a once-a-month kind of thing. Not once a week.

3) Peter and Harley

“Ewww!” the twin exclamations of disgust made Lucifer sigh as Anthony sat bolt upright, breaking up a rather enjoyable make-out session.

“What are you doing back so early?” Anthony asked in confusion, not moving out of Lucifer’s lap.

Peter was bright red while Harley was stubbornly looking away, making Anthony roll his eyes.

“We’re still dressed kids.”

“You were doing… that though,” Harley pointed out in disgust.

“Kissing?” Lucifer asked with a raised eyebrow, amused by their matching grimaces.

“In the lab? Really?!” Peter’s voice went up a few notches.

Anthony blinked at them. “Not the first time.”

That received cries of outrage. Oh, if only they knew exactly how many places in this Tower Anthony and Lucifer had ‘blessed’. They wouldn’t sit down anywhere.

They wouldn’t even leave the elevator.

Well, actually, they wouldn’t get in the elevator in the first place.

Now that he thought about it, the stairs weren’t safe either.

He tuned back into the conversation as Anthony groaned and slid off of him to stand up. He gave Lucifer a smirk when the demon pouted at him.

“Sorry Luci, these two need some science to help with the trauma apparently.”

Lucifer let out a long-suffering sigh. “Very well Anthony. You really are a doting father.”

He snapped his fingers and vanished to the sound of Anthony spluttering in embarrassment while Peter squeaked and Harley yelled something offensive at him.

He really did wish that everyone would stop interrupting them.

4) Rhodey

The Colonel didn’t even pause as he strode into the room. He’d caught Tony more times than he could count so he wasn’t bothered by anything nowadays.

“Sorry Lucifer. I’ve got to borrow Tony for a bit.”

“It couldn’t wait a minute?!” Tony asked incredulously.

“No. Because either we get to a very important out-of-the-blue meeting right the fuck now or some fuckers in the government are going to manage to get a pardon through for Rogers.”

Tony went still, eyes widening as fear flooded them.

Lucifer let out an animalistic growl as he sat up. He snapped his fingers and suddenly they were perfectly presentable, Tony in one of his best suits.

“Anthony,” he caught Tony’s chin and turned him to face the demon. “Deep breath now.”

Rhodey waited anxiously as Lucifer brought Tony back from the edge of a panic attack before darting forward and grabbing his arm to drag him to his feet.

“But-But how?!” Tony stuttered. “Crowley crushed that idea flat!”

“They’re not trying for an international one. Just one in America,” Rhodey explained tersely, hating the tremble he could feel in his little brother’s hand. “I couldn’t get in contact with Crowley.”

“I’ll get him,” Lucifer offered. “I can generally find demons no matter where they are.”

“Please,” Rhodey felt a surge of relief. Half the people trying this were terrified of Crowley. It would help.

Lucifer vanished for a few minutes as Rhodey gradually talked Tony’s anxiety down again. When Lucifer reappeared, he had a seething Crowley and a blushing Aziraphale with him.

Crowley immediately jumped into action, barking out orders to Friday who followed them easily.

“What’s wrong with him?” Rhodey asked, looking at Aziraphale who looked like he wanted to melt into a puddle right there and then.

“Oh, it turns out that Anthony and I weren’t the only ones to get interrupted today,” Lucifer told him cheerfully.

“You don’t appear in other people’s bedrooms!” Aziraphale’s voice was a few pitches too high. “It’s highly inappropriate!”

“That’s a mental image I like,” Tony mused, sending Aziraphale’s embarrassment through the roof.

Rhodey smacked him upside the head.

They’d be okay. They had some good allies.

5) Uriel

The Archangel appeared in Tony's living room on a mission.

When the sight of Tony and Lucifer on the couch processed she promptly forgot about said mission.

"This is a living room!" She squeaked, clapping a hand over her eyes.

She'd never wanted to forget a memory with Lucifer in it so badly before in her entire existence. There were some things a sister should just never see.

"We put up a 'do not disturb' sign," Tony pointed out cheerfully.

"Perhaps knock next time," Lucifer added, sounding amused.

Uriel knew that her ears were burning as she turned and hurried from the room.

She practically ran into Pepper outside, the woman heading towards the room with the pair.

"You don't want to go in there. They're… busy," she warned, face still burning.

Pepper shrugged. "I've seen it all. He's not getting out of this paperwork though. He may not be CEO anymore but he's still the owner of the company and Head of R&D."

With that, she calmly walked into the room.

Uriel shook her head in disbelief and walked the other way.

She'd talk to Tony about his AI that may or may not have taken over Heaven's systems another day.

He seemed busy at the moment.

+1) Crowley

Lucifer suddenly tensed and Anthony pulled back to look at him in concern.

"Luci?"

"Sorry Anthony," he gave the genius an apologetic look. "It appears that I have to go deal with something."

Anthony must have picked up on the tone of his voice since he rolled off of him and pressed a light kiss to his lips.

"Go on," he told him with a reassuring smile, settling into the blankets. "We'll pick up where we left off another time."

Lucifer gave him a grateful smile before vanishing from the bed.

After putting clothes on, of course.

He followed the thread of his power that he'd wound into Crowley's True Form as a precaution and found himself in an alley somewhere in Soho. Likely near that angel's bookshop.

His temper came perilously close to snapping as he took in the sight before him.

There was a demon, some low-level grunt that had probably been talked into doing this by someone not willing to possibly get on Beelzebub's bad side by going against Anthony's contract with Hell, holding Crowley up against the wall.

He must have been distracted by something when he was ambushed because Crowley was a lot stronger than the other demon. 

Lucifer could put the clues together and come up with the answer though.

There was a demonic blade plunged into Crowley's right shoulder which would have been enough to drag his wings out instinctually to protect himself. And the way that the left one was hanging told Lucifer that it was dislocated.

Regardless of how powerful a demon or angel was, their wings were sensitive. Plucking feathers was agonisingly painful, but a dislocated wing? That was enough to send a demon into shock.

And Crowley's lack of struggling suggested that that was just what had happened. The attacking demon was likely the only thing holding Crowley upright at the moment.

"This is what traitors like you deserve," the demon hissed, pressing him harder into the bricks in front of him.

He reached up and gripped the dislocated wing, pulling it back harshly. A strangled cry left Crowley and Lucifer snapped.

He could feel the snake of Hellfire he'd twined with his power just below Crowley's skin, reacting to the demon's pain. With a thought, he called it out into the open.

The demon screeched as the snake burst into view, snapping at the threat. It coiled around Crowley as they released him, the injured demon collapsing sideways.

"What?" The attacking demon whispered as the Hellfire snake curled protectively around his victim. The sheer amount of demonic energy radiating from it made him weak at the knees.

Lucifer unfolded his wings into view and leaned down to speak in his ear, making the demon aware of his presence.

"Jeopardising Hell's contract with Anthony hmm?"

The demon stiffened, trembling as Lucifer's power washed over them from behind, an exact match to the power wrapped about Crowley.

He slowly looked over his shoulder, meeting dark, angry eyes.

"L-L-Lucifer," he whispered in fright.

Lucifer smiled before he lashed out, claws appearing and slashing the demon's throat.

The grunt choked and gurgled, hands coming up to clutch at his throat as he drowned in black blood.

After a few moments, he discorporated. He should be glad that Lucifer didn't outright kill him, but this might serve as a warning to whoever sent him.

Using the excuse of the contract and his connection to Anthony might mean he could get away with protecting Crowley.

Speaking off.

Lucifer walked past the splatters of black blood on the ground and towards the demon crumpled by the wall. 

He'd always hated seeing Raphael injured and that hadn't changed after he'd become a demon. It was why he hadn't been able to resist leaving a fragment of his own power wrapped in Hellfire within the demon.

Raphael had a tendency to attract trouble. Even when he was an angel.

Lucifer shook his head and forcibly reminded himself to call his brother by his current name. He couldn't go slipping up because he called the demon by his original name in his head.

The Hellfire snake hissed threateningly for a moment before he waved his hand and sent it back within the demon.

Crouching down beside Crowley he noticed that the demon was still conscious but his golden eyes were glazed over with shock.

He'd actually hoped that the pain would have knocked him out.

He sighed and reached out to touch Crowley's shoulder, heart aching a bit at the instinctive flinch that the demon gave at the contact. He definitely wasn't aware of anything that was happening except for the pain he was in.

Gritting his teeth Lucifer gripped the base of Crowley's wing, trying to ignore the pained whimper that produced, and wrenched it up.

Crowley arched under his hand with a choked scream and Lucifer couldn't help it. He was a demon. He was the Devil. But this was his little brother, even if Crowley didn't remember.

It was practically instinct to gather the trembling demon up into his arms while he rode out the aftershocks of the pain. With a flicker of power, Lucifer healed the scrapes from the bricks on Crowley's cheek and chin and did what he could to soothe the ache in his wing joint and shoulder.

Surprisingly, Crowley did end up relaxing in his hold.

His head lolled, eyes unfocused and distant, but somehow still conscious.

Stubborn idiot.

Lucifer sighed and stood up, lifting him in a bridal carry. His wings came forward automatically, old memories of comforting his younger brother with them promoting the action.

He prepared himself to teleport to the bookshop when Crowley shifted.

"Luce?" The word was so soft it was barely audible but it froze Lucifer in an instant.

Raphael was the only being in existence to ever call him 'Luce'.

He inhaled sharply, gaze darting down to meet those golden eyes.

Crowley wasn't focused on him, looking at something only he could see. A hallucination?

A… memory?

''Sss alwaysss th' wingsss," he slurred weakly.

Lucifer remembered finding Raphael broken with trampled wings and his heart just about broke.

"Hurtsss," Crowley hissed softly.

He really couldn't help it. He sent another wave of power into the demon, targeting the wing again to numb it.

And Crowley went limp in his hold, the tension draining from him.

"Luce…" he whispered, eyes starting to drift shut.

Lucifer didn't know if Crowley had actually remembered something. Or if the wing trauma had dragged something to the front of his mind.

He had no idea if Crowley would remember any of this when he recovered, or if it would vanish again like the rest of his memories.

Lucifer closed his eyes, pained. He hadn't realised how badly he wanted Raphael to remember until this moment, where it suddenly seemed to actually be possible.

He let out a breath. No use getting his hopes up for something that was likely impossible. Everyone else's amnesia was just a part of his punishment after all.

He still found himself leaning down to press a light kiss to the demon's forehead.

"Sleep brother," the traitorous words slipped out without his consent. "You're safe."

Crowley's eyes slipped shut as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Lucifer stood there for a moment staring down at the younger demon. He didn't know when he'd get a chance to just look at him again.

He did wish that Crowley would stop getting hurt though.

With another sigh, he snapped his fingers and appeared at the door to the angel's bookshop. Shifting Crowley's weight a bit, he knocked politely.

There were a few moments of silence before he heard someone approaching.

"I'm terribly sorry, but we're closed-" Aziraphale came to an abrupt stop when he opened the door and registered who was outside.

Then he spotted his boyfriend.

"Crowley!" The panic was immediate and genuine. "What happened?!"

"He got ambushed by a low-level demon," Lucifer brushed past him. "Anthony is rather fond of you both so I felt the need to step in."

He set Crowley down on the couch on his side and stepped back to let the angel fuss.

He should leave. He really should. 

"His wing was dislocated and he wasn't very lucid before he passed out," he added in an even tone.

Aziraphale's expression twisted with pain and he rested a trembling hand on one dark wing. His fingers glowed as he poured healing energy into the feathery limb.

"Oh, why is it always your wings Crowley?" He whispered.

Lucifer faltered in his move to head for the door.

"Pardon me? What was that about his wings?" He asked, keeping his voice light.

"They always get hurt," Aziraphale murmured, stroking over the feathers soothingly. "Plucked, sprained, now dislocated. And his wings are so terribly sensitive. Far more than usual for an angel or demon."

Lucifer frowned at those words. Well, he supposed it made sense. They'd been badly broken and being overly sensitive after a major healing wasn't unheard of.

Aziraphale inhaled deeply to calm himself before looking at Lucifer.

"Thank you," he said, all sincerity and gratefulness.

No wonder he hadn't fit in in Heaven post-Fall. Aziraphale was a fucking marshmallow.

Lucifer sighed. "Do tell him to be more careful," he instructed and vanished before the angel could do anything else strange.

Like try to hug him.

He reappeared in Anthony's penthouse and his shoulders sagged as the stress of the night set in.

Without a word he miracled himself into a pair of boxers and slid into bed, wrapping his arms around Anthony's waist.

The human snuggled back, twisting just far enough to sleepily kiss Lucifer lightly on the cheek.

They didn't get back to their previous activities. And there were no questions about why he'd chosen to come back here instead of his own home.

Sometimes even the Devil needed to cuddle.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep to the sound of Anthony's beating heart.

Chapter Text

Crowley struggled to wake up. More than usual anyway. His left wing was throbbing fiercely in time with his corporation's heartbeat and he felt like shit.

What the Heaven had happened?

He tried to remember but his last clear memory was heading back from a walk around the block since it was a nice, clear night and he liked to look at the stars. Then there had been an agonising pain in his shoulder as he was yanked into an alley.

He remembered his wings coming out to shield himself but his attacker had grabbed one of them and pulled. There'd been a wrenching jerk and then nothing but agony running through his entire being.

He shuddered at the remembered pain. Everything after that was an indistinct haze. His next semi-solid memory was a strangely familiar warmth and a feeling of safety.

But it hadn't been his angel. He could recognise Aziraphale no matter his state of mind.

He didn't know who had been the source of the warmth.

It almost felt like a memory, an answer to his confusion, was right there. But he couldn't get a grip on it and his head hurt more when he tried.

With a grumble he stopped for the moment, just breathing and taking stock of himself.

He was lying in bed and there were familiar arms and wings wrapped around him.

He instantly went boneless again as Aziraphale ran a hand through his hair.

"Dearest?" His angel spoke softly. "Are you awake?"

Crowley hummed, not wanting to move.

A gentle kiss was pressed to his temple.

"I'm relieved. You've been out for a while," he murmured.

Recognising the worry in his angel's voice, Crowley forced his eyes open, wincing as the light hit his eyes. 

A snap from Aziraphale dimmed the light in the room and Crowley squinted as the angel shifted to rest on his elbow and look down on him.

"Wha' happ'ned?" He slurred, tongue feeling clumsy in his mouth.

Aziraphale trailed his fingers down from Crowley's hair to cup his cheek and he instinctively leaned into it.

"You were attacked by a demon," he murmured worriedly. "Lucifer stepped in as a favour to Tony I believe."

Crowley furrowed his brow, confused. "Lucifer?" He mumbled, the name strangely awkward on his tongue like he was used to saying something else.

He really was still out of it.

Aziraphale’s expression softened at the clear fuzziness still present in Crowley's expression. He brushed his thumb over the corner of Crowley's mouth before leaning down to kiss him, chaste and gentle.

"Get some more rest love," he whispered. 

Crowley could already feel himself slipping away again as his eyes closed.

"You're safe," Aziraphale promised.

Safe.

There was something about that.

"You're safe," a familiar voice murmured.

Crowley reached for the foggy memory. He remembered a flash of huge, white wings, curling in protectively around him.

Then a spike of pain shot through his head and the memory slipped away.

He drifted off to sleep before he could think any harder on it.

“Did you overwork yourself again?”

The voice was warm and amused.

Crowley’s chest felt warm. He shifted, half-asleep still and tangled up in sheets and a sleeping angel.

“Come now, let’s take you somewhere better to rest than the workshop.”

Arms picked him up and he went willingly. He knew this person would never hurt him.

The demon rolled over and buried his face in Aziraphale’s shoulder, groggily reaching for the dreams.

The memories?

The dream changed.

Angry voices were shouting and hurling accusations at each other. He didn’t know what to do. He’d thought everything was fine. Weren’t they happy?

(He knew deep down that some of them weren’t.)

Crowley frowned and curled into himself a bit as the dream changed again. He didn’t want to reach for this one. This one hurt too much.

All he could see was gold. Gold stained the walls and floors. It dripped into his eyes and coated his hair as his vision blurred.

Someone was talking. He couldn’t make out the words.

Then his wing was grabbed. Gripped tightly in a hand as it twitched in an attempt to pull away.

The hand holding his wing then twisted and pulled and-

Crowley woke with a gasp, phantom pain racing through his wings even though they were tucked away on the ethereal plane. He looked around wildly, taking a moment to recognise the room he was in.

“Crowley?” a sleepy, worried voice came from beside him as Aziraphale sat up as well.

The fear immediately started to drain out of him as the pain in his wings faded.

“My dear what’s wrong?” his angel asked gently.

Crowley shook his head and rubbed at his cheek, surprised to find it wet.

“Nightmare,” he mumbled.

Already the dream was fading away, details getting lost until all he could remember of the nightmare was pain.

“Might have been the Fall?” he wasn’t so sure though. That seemed both right and wrong.

Aziraphale made a sympathetic noise and reached out to draw him close. Crowley went willingly, letting the angel tuck him in close to his chest.

His angel ran a soothing hand from his hair, down his neck and back before resting on his hip for a moment. Then he started again. It rapidly calmed Crowley until he felt a bit embarrassed for having reacted so badly.

It was just a nightmare after all.

“Do you want to try going back to sleep?” Aziraphale asked quietly as Crowley yawned.

“Hmm,” was his only response as the demon cuddled closer.

Aziraphale let out a soft huff of laughter before laying flat again, Crowley resting on his chest.

Crowley drifted off again to his angel’s soothing touches, trying to ignore the niggling feeling that he was forgetting something.